


Journey

by Maybe_A_Third_Eye



Series: Special interests and very special cats. [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Ableist Language, Angst with a Happy Ending, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Gavin Reed-centric, M/M, Minor Character Death, Semi-verbal Nines, Trans Gavin Reed, Transphobia, autistic nines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:36:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23920180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maybe_A_Third_Eye/pseuds/Maybe_A_Third_Eye
Summary: The journey that Gavin Reed took, from being kicked out, to the DPD, to meeting Nines.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: Special interests and very special cats. [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718686
Comments: 4
Kudos: 81





	Journey

**Author's Note:**

> Be warned young grasshoppers, for there is some transphobia and use of the r word, along with disownment and abuse, so if that is something that upsets you, then perhaps tread lightly or perhaps read something else.

Gavin was 16, almost 17 when he was kicked out of his home. Elijah had found out that he was trans and had told their parents. Of course he didn’t mean for it to go this horribly wrong, but he had been worried. He had wanted Gavin to have a support network, people that he could go to so he didn’t have to continue shoving his feelings down and living in discomfort. The arguments between Gavin, his parents and Elijah that night had been brutal.

“I didn’t raise a fucking queer Leah Eve Kamski!” His father boomed while he had a tv remote thrown at his head.

“Father if you would just listen.” He pleaded with his father. It didn’t do anything, his mother was still standing, letting it all happen. Elijah was standing near her, trying to make sense of the situation. 

“No, I am not going to listen to you disrespect your mother and I like this. We raised a normal fucking girl. Not whatever the fuck is wrong with you. We got you therapy for your fucking issues, because heaven forbid we allow you outside acting like a fucking retard, but I’m not going to have a fucking tranny living in my house.” With that, his father threw a glass with some sort of alcohol in it at Gavin. The glass shattered all over, and he knew that the deepest slice was on the bridge of his nose. The alcohol from the glass splashed into the cuts and in his eyes, causing his whole face to feel like it was on fire. 

“Pack your things and get the fuck out. I don’t want to see your face again. Not here, not at any events, not at temple. If I see your face after this night I won’t hesitate to make absolute sure that no one will ever see your face again. If you want to keep your cell phone it’s going to go on your own plan. Now go.” Gavin would cry, but his eyes were dried out from the alcohol hitting them. As he walked upstairs to his room, he could hear Elijah arguing with his father, how this was unfair and he couldn’t just kick him out. As if he wasn’t the fucking cause of all of this. Gavin was happy to live in misery until he could move far away and live his own life. Elijah had to go and fuck it up. This never would’ve happened if he couldn’t keep his fucking mouth shut. 

Gavin didn’t have much clothes that he would actually want to bring with him. He grabbed the things that he needed, a few regular shirts and jeans, a pair of gym shorts and sweatpants, his deodorant, and a few other necessities. He thought about shoving some of his art supplies into his bag, but he didn’t want to rely on the tools his parents had bought him. He grabbed the sketchbook that he had paid for, a few pencils, and shoved it all into a bag. At the moment he couldn’t think of what he may need, his head was still too clouded over from the events that had just transpired. He could still hear the arguing down stairs. No way in hell was he giving his father the satisfaction of seeing him walk out the door right past him. He took a risk, and opened the window, crawled on top of the roof, and walked over to the tree. He carefully crawled down the tree to the ground. He quietly started the thirty minute walk over to Tina’s. It was a good thing that it was dark out, because he knew that with his shitty luck a cop would see him walking all bloody and with his bag and try to take him to the station and then he would inevitably be taken back to his house or put into the system, both of those were unacceptable. He made it over to Tina’s, it had taken ten extra minutes, as he had to sit down on the curb for a little bit to wipe some of the blood from his nose up. 

When he got to Tina’s house he could see her car in the driveway, but her mother’s was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t surprising, she was probably at her second job. Tina’s mom had to work her ass off just to raise enough to keep a roof over her and Tina’s heads. He walked up the driveway and then rang the doorbell. Tina opened the door and when she saw Gavin her eyes lit up. Then her eyes adjusted to the dim light from above the door.

‘Hey Tiny, don’t suppose I could crash here for a little while?” He said, trying to chuckle to blow off the situation.

“Oh my god Gavin what happened to you? Get in here dumbass, let me get the first aid kit.” Hell it felt good to hear Tina call him Gavin. Her and her mother were the only people that he had told. He had no fucking clue how Elijah had found out, Tina and her mother would never betray him and tell anyone. Too bad his fucking dumbass brother couldn’t do the same. Then he remembered that he couldn’t exactly call Elijah his brother anymore.

“They found out Tina. Elijah told them. I don’t know how he knew, but he told them. Dad kicked me out right after throwing a glass in my face.” Tina looked like she was going to murder someone, but at that moment she was so far into first aid mode that she didn’t say anything regarding that. 

“Empty glass or was there something in it?” She asked in an urgent tone of voice.

“Had some sort of alcohol in it. I don’t know, stung like a bitch.” He stated through clenched teeth.

“Well this is going to hurt even more.” Tina stated, right before pouring some peroxide over the largest cut on the nose. She spent the next 15 minutes cleaning out and patching up the wounds all over his face.

“The one on your nose is probably going to need stitches, but I think we both know that you’re too stubborn to go to the doctor. I’ve done the best I could, but you’re going to need to take it easy for a little. Let me call my mother and explain the situation.”

The next few years were the worst in his life. He stayed with Tina and her mother. He had to pick up two jobs on top of school so he could save for himself and pay Tina’s mother. Of course she didn’t ask for him to pay, in fact she had told him not to worry and that as far as she was concerned he was her son. However, he was not about to become a financial burden on the two most important people in his life. 

By the time he graduated he was bone tired. His parents didn’t show at his graduation, and neither did Elijah. Although, he had heard that Elijah started some promising tech company somewhere. Look at him, being the perfect child, raising money for his parent’s to live well after they retired or some shit. In the meantime he and Tina both applied and got into the academy. The most impressive thing though was that as soon as he turned 18 he changed his name. Luckily the process was over with by the time he had to fill out applications for the academy. Leah Eve Kamski was no more, and now there was the slightly, slightly more mentally stable Gavin Alexander Reed. Tina had told him that he chose the most stereotypical trans male names she had ever heard, and he was fine with this, just as long as he was no longer Leah and he was no longer Kamski.

They went off to the academy together. At this point, Elijah’s first Chloe had just passed the Turing test and gained fucking intelligence or whatever the fuck. Of course Elijah had to go and create life or some shit, he ruined Gavin’s, might as well go and fuck up an androids life. That was his thought process through his time at the academy, until the androids became commonplace. Until Tina’s mother lost her second job and he and Tina had to pick up a second job to make sure that she didn’t get her house or car repossessed. In the end Gavin was ok, he had worked so much in high school that his savings were rather generous. Tina however, was worse off. She had worked just as hard as Gavin had, but she had to spend her money a while back to make sure that she had a car that worked. She still had enough to live on, but things were scary for a little while there. The next time they went back home was intense.

“Gavin, may I have a word, in private” Tina’s mother had asked after dinner one day.

“Yeah, of course Ma.” He had answered, not knowing what was about to happen.

“The world is changing Gavin, it’s changing more and more by the day. I need you to keep Tina safe, and I need you to keep yourself safe as well. Don’t become bitter Gavin Reed. I know the road you’re going down. You worked yourself to death and you still do. Life has been shitty to you Gavin Reed, it’s been shitty to all of us. I need to know that you will be ok. Don’t become bitter, don’t become something you aren’t. Take care of each other and yourselves.” At the time Gavin didn’t know what the fuck was happening. Why was she saying things like that? Yeah the world was changing, there were more androids coming out everyday, taking over jobs and changing everything. Then Tina got a call at 1 in the morning. 

Tina’s mother, hell at this point she was Gavin’s mother too, had passed out and been rushed to the hospital. At first they didn’t believe it, she had been fine. There was nothing to warrant this. Until they had received the news. She had been sick for a while. At first she just didn’t have the money for any form of treatment. Then she didn’t want to worry Tina and Gavin, so apparently just fucking dropping dead was the preferred route. 

She died the next day. That was the absolute worst day of Gavin’s life, which was saying something for a trans man that was kicked out of his home at 16. Tina and Gavin both made sure the funeral was the absolute best, only the best for their mother. Tina made sure that the “she is succeeded by” said Tina and Gavin’s name. Things were rough for both of them after that. They both continued working hard and they both graduated from the academy with flying colours. They both went to work at the DPD. Fowler was fond of them both, Tina’s moxy and Gavin’s hardworking tendencies. However, things started to change when more and more androids started rolling out. Everyday he saw evidence of what their mother could have been. People dying cold and alone in the streets during the harsh Detroit winter. On more than one occasion he had to be the officer on the scene.

Things all came to a head with Connor and the revolution. Here came a fucking android waltzing up into the precinct that he worked his ass off day and night to get into. Here was a peice of fucking plastic and metal who didn’t have to do a day of prior work to get to where he was. He just fucking waltzed in. While he was at it he made Hank fucking normal again. This fucking asshole and he pulled a therapist and made his life better. Something he would’ve fucking begged for in high school and he just fucking made his way in. It was so fucking unfair. Fowler knew how hard he worked and he let this overly friendly pretentious fucking asshole walk in. Connor became Elijah’s little secret fucking prodigy. He may not have seen Elijah in a while, but he knew his brother and he knew that this fucker was meant to help the revolution. There was no way that Elijah hadn’t set some of his fucking spys to watch him. He knew the effect androids had on his life and he just let Connor waltz the fuck in and fuck everything that he had accomplished up.

Then there was the rest of the fucking revolution business. Oh precious fucking Connor, saving Markus and the revolution. Oh precious Connor he’s so great. Look at him, the best detective to ever grace the streets of Detroit. Look at him, the greatest mother fucking thing since Betty White. Look at him, the perfect fucking person, if he had been a human he would’ve been the perfect fucking child. Some would say that this was an unhealthy thought process. Some would say he should go to therapy. Some would say that his fucking mother told him not to become bitter. 

It was a couple of months after the revolution and androids got their fucking rights or whatever that Nines came. At first he was fucking fuming. Here was another, albeit a lot less fucking puppy looking Connor. Then he realised how fucking different Nines was. Of course it didn’t happen overnight, it was weeks before Gavin even talked to Nines. However when he did start talking, he realised that Nines was not just Connor.

Connor was ‘friendly’, he was what you’d think of when you think of a stay at home father in suburbia. Nines was sarcastic, a bit of an ass, but most importantly, he was lost. When he first started talking to Nines, Nines barely knew how to speak properly. He could put words together, but he couldn’t always figure out how to respond to things. This worked out well when talking to Gavin, as the biggest issues for Nines was small talk. Things that had open ended answers that could go in any direction. Gavin didn’t know if Nines could see how each answer to something open ended would be taken and thus he had to see everything, or if he had no fucking clue how things would be taken. Gavin however, had always hated small talk and he never engaged in it and Nines was eternally grateful. However, the first time Nines had tried to talk to Tina he couldn’t say a thing. He couldn’t say anything afterwards either. In fact, Nines could only send messages to his phone for the next two days. Then there were the interactions with Connor. At first Connor tried to talk to him just as he would talk with any other person, verbally, with pleasantries. He could tell how much that stressed Nines out, and it reminded him of when he was a kid and people told him that he needed to just sit still, pay attention and be fucking normal. In a way Connor wanted Nines to assimilate and be normal too. Gavin had to tell him to fuck off and that Nines wasn’t Connor. He was different, interacted differently, needed different things. That was the day that Gavin decided consciously that Nines was ok. Nines was just as lost in life as he had been a while ago. Eventually Connor realised that Nines was different too. When he wanted to talk, he would ask if Nines was ok with interfacing and they would interface. It was good to see that Connor got his head out of his ass for just long enough to see that Nines needed to be interacted with differently. Nines slowly started to talk a bit more. It was slow at first, he talked a bit more with Gavin, asked if pie was really as good as the internet said it was (which made Gavin laugh his ass off, which made Nines concerned before Gavin explained that he wasn’t laughing at him, just the question). Then he slowly started talking to Tina. Nothing special at first, just a “hello detective Chen,” or a “you are needed detective Chen.” 

Then there was the time that Gavin offhandedly mentioned the history of Detroit. At the time he hadn’t thought anything of it. It was a simple fact that he had thrown out in a random conversation. However Nines seemed to research it while he was talking with Tina, and when he got back he heard Nines talk more than he had ever heard before. Nines told him all about the history of Detroit and all about some paint rock called Fordite. He even continued talking when they were walking to the repair shop where Gavin’s car was.

He soon realised just how much Nines loved history. It was the only time that he could talk for extended periods of time and not have to worry about how it would be taken. He was simply telling Gavin facts about the past, and he knew that Gavin would listen.

Gavin was still angry. Still angry at his father, at Elijah, at the world. He still was bitter, just like Ma had warned him to not become. He still saw gruesome crime scenes and homeless people dying on the streets. The difference was that now he had Nines. He had someone who could also understand how shitty the world could be sometimes. Of course there was Tina, but Gavin could tell that sometimes she just wanted Gavin to be the simply sarcastic and not bitter boy that she had known. Gavin knew that he couldn’t go back, and sometimes that fact made him afraid to be around Tina. But with Nines there was never that pressure. Nines was ok that Gavin was bitter because Nines was bitter in his own way. Here was Nines, supposed to be the most advanced android ever, who couldn’t hold a conversation. Humans had brought him into this world, perhaps as a cruel fucking experiment rather than to hunt deviants, and they hadn’t even programmed him to know how to speak to humans and deviants properly. But just like Nines didn’t care about Gavin’s bitterness towards the world, Gavin really didn’t care that Nines was different.  
Gavin never judged when Nines stimmed, he never judged when he talked about history. Hell when Nines met Cleo and rambled about history, Gavin had listened and hadn’t said something along the lines of how he was just introducing his cat and it wasn’t an invitation for a history lesson. They bounced off each other, and they grew together. 

Things weren’t all rainbows and lollipops, they never would be. The real world was difficult and messy as hell, but now they knew that they had each other. Nines knew that when he wanted to talk about history Gavin would let him and when he couldn’t talk he wouldn’t try to force him. Gavin knew that Nines didn’t care about who he once was and who he had become. They both knew that as long as they stuck together things would get better, one step at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to be honest here, I had this done a few days ago, I just didn't want to deal with my laptop. Anyway I will now have to formulate some more ideas, but let's be honest I always have some sort of idea for Autistic Nines, so it shouldn't be that long. On a completely unrelated note, Gerard Way has one of the most aesthetically pleasing faces on this good green earth and I can not stop drawing him.


End file.
